Why Onirim made my year

If I had to pick my game of the year, it would have to be Onirim, even though I first played it years ago when it first came out. But this was the year I really got into it. 

When I first played it way back when, I said Onirim was the solitaire game for people who don’t play solitaire game. Now that I’ve developed more of an interest in solitaire games, at least short ones, Onirim is now an amazing game for people who do play solitaire games :D

I actually tried writing a couple of blogs about Onirim during 2018 but I wasn’t happy with any of them. I doubt I’ll be happy with this one either :P

For them that don’t know, Onirim is a solitaire card game, although you can play it as a two-player cooperative (but I never have) In a nutshell, you are trying to make runs of cards before the deck runs out. And it comes with several built-in expansions, which is super cool.

I also have to confess that the app is a big reason I’ve been able to embrace Onirim so much. While I’m not getting rid of my hard copy, being able to play on my devices is a big deal. And since it is a solitaire game, it feels much closer and satisfying to play on a device than playing a multi-player game against AIs, which just doesn’t interest me much.

As I mentioned before, my interest in solitaire games is pretty much limited to shorter games. If I have an hour or more to devote to gaming, I would much rather use that time to play with other people.

And Onirim is pretty much the ideal of that. Even a physical game only takes around ten, fifteen minutes, including setup and clean up. At the same time, the game offers a lot of control and choices. Oh, you are still surfing on the chaos of a shuffled deck but your choices can make the difference  between a rough ride and a total wipeout.

And that’s why I keep coming back to Onirim. Even when I am strapped for time, it is a game that I can still play, particularly with the help of the app. And it is a legitimate game with interesting decisions for me to make. I know I’ll have fun :)

There are other games that have made an impact on my gaming life in 2018. Finally playing Captain Sonar was awesome. There have been print-and-play games like Micro Rome and Palm Island and Murderer’s Row and Orchard that have been wonderful experiences and games I will keep playing. But Onirim really is the one that has had the most impact.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71836/onirim